CLC announces winners of high school academic challenge on Feb. 13

More than 150 students from eight area high schools competed in the annual WYSE Academic Challenge competition, held Feb. 13 at the College of Lake County.

The regional competition brought the area's brightest students together to compete in academic tests covering seven subject areas. The first and second place finishers in each category and the top two teams from each division will advance to the North Chicago Sectional Competition on March 11 at Vernon Hills High School. The Academic Challenge was sponsored by CLC engineering and physics departments and the University of Illinois College of Engineering's Worldwide Youth in Science and Engineering (WYSE) program.

Medalist awards were presented to the individual on each of the seven teams with the highest total standardized score for their team. Medalists were David Zhao (Deerfield High School), Victoria Liu (Grayslake Central High School), Katherine Koebel (Lake Zurich High School), Elliot Stahnke (Libertyville High School), Niki Chakrabarty (Vernon Hills High School), Janvee Patel (Wauconda High School) and Karis Wentz (Westlake Christian Academy).

The high schools were divided into three divisions, schools with fewer than 300 students, less than 1,500 students and those with more than 1,500 students (unlimited). Westlake Christian Academy competed alone in Division 300 and will advance to the sectional competition. In the 1,500 division, the top three teams were: 1st place: Vernon Hills, 2nd place: Grayslake Central and 3rd place: Wauconda. In the unlimited schools division (over 1,500), the top schools were 1st place: Deerfield, 2nd place: Libertyville and 3rd place: Lake Zurich.